Gemotions

He hadn't seen her in ten years. "Do you need help with your groceries?" he offered, his voice strained. She smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “No, thank you. I’m good.” Her words were polite, dismissing. He felt a sharp, sudden pain, a visceral jolt that ran through him like electricity. The bag of groceries, once so appealing, suddenly seemed to weigh a ton. He stood frozen, the world tilted, his carefully constructed present dissolving, leaving him grasping at a past that no longer existed. He felt the pavement beneath his feet shift, his equilibrium failing.